During your shift, control instructs you to do something that you believe is unsafe. What do you do?

Imagine I am driving a service and control issues an instruction that I believe conflicts with a safety procedure. For example, I might be asked to pass a signal at danger without a proper pilot or without the standard safety confirmation I would expect.

I needed to raise my concern professionally and clearly, and if necessary, refuse to carry out an instruction that I believed was genuinely unsafe.

I would first clarify the instruction back to control, respectfully explaining my concern and citing the specific safety procedure I believed was being compromised. I would give control the opportunity to correct or clarify the instruction, as misunderstandings can happen. If the instruction persisted and I still believed it was unsafe, I would politely but firmly refuse to carry it out. I would then escalate to a supervisor or the duty manager to resolve the situation.

This approach ensures the issue is resolved through proper channels. In safety-critical work, the rule is clear: if you believe an action is unsafe, you must not carry it out. Most of the time, a calm conversation resolves the misunderstanding. But I would never compromise on safety just because an instruction came from above.